Backstage at Gary Bigeni

At the time, backstage was dim – the light coming from the fridge, the bulb-framed mirrors and the big camera flashes all seemed to dull under the veil of reverence, anticipation and the mild onset of a headache I was having from eating too many lollies in the morning. We shot, shot, shot all day. And edited, edited, edited all night. After a while, we got used to the long, sweaty waits in the pit. Crouching under tripods for a good spot; our chins sitting on our hunched knees, finally our eyes closing – our cameras settings were on ‘manual’ but our minds were on autopilot. And so it was that most of my photos from the week came to reside on my external hard drive, lost in a blur of shows, stress and memory cards. Most of them I look at and can barely remember taking them – models, designs, runways all merge into one. However, I remember backstage at Gary Bigeni well – the very first thing I shot of the week. No pits, no waiting, no over-tired eye bags – pure adrenaline.